It’s time to say goodbye to Alexa and Google Assistant, because Sonos is gearing up to deploy its own proprietary speech assistant in the coming weeks. Using the company’s home audio platform, customers will be able to manage music.
To begin, consumers in the United States will be able to receive the Sonos personal assistant on June 1st, with an international rollout to follow. This story was first reported by The Verge.
Sonos equipment can currently be operated using Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Customers will have yet another option with a proprietary voice assistant.
Spotify and YouTube Music aren’t currently on board with the integration, according to the publication, but it will work with other services like Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, and Deezer.
Neither the corporation nor the cloud will record or process user audio requests. “Hey Sonos” will be the device’s wake word, which will control all of its functions.
In spite of the Verge reporting that Sonos has been working on its own voice assistant for a long time, the business did not reply.
Sonos declined to comment for this story, citing its policy of not commenting on rumors or speculation. But through various job listings for the voice product and an as-yet-unannounced “Home Theater OS,” the company has offered a glimpse at a future where it will put a much greater emphasis on software and try to establish itself as a central hub for streaming entertainment.
